Luigi Mangione is set to return to court Tuesday for the last scheduled pre-trial conference before jury selection begins in his state murder case. That hearing may be the final public appearance before jury selection starts on Sept. 8.
Prosecutors allege that he killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in separate state and federal cases and faces the possibility of life in prison if he is convicted in the state case.
Gregory Carro and jury selection
Judge Gregory Carro has not disclosed his plan for jury selection. The defense has asked him to address media access for the trial, including whether the proceedings could be broadcast live, before the case moves from pre-trial hearings into jury selection.
That request sits alongside the defense’s earlier reversal on its extreme emotional disturbance strategy. Mangione’s lawyers withdrew that notice after the judge said they would have to turn over psychiatric records if they chose that route, removing a path that could have sought a manslaughter conviction instead of murder.
Joel Seidermann's July filing
Joel Seidermann wrote in July that any guilty pleas in the matters must account for “the seriousness of defendant's offenses, the loss of an innocent life, the impact of those crimes on the victim's family, and the other state interests that are implicated, including the sanctity of life principle that underpins the state homicide charges,”. In June, Mangione’s lawyers and federal prosecutors in Manhattan discussed a possible guilty plea in his federal case.
The federal trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 5. For now, Tuesday’s hearing is the last scheduled chance to lock down trial logistics before Sept. 8, and the live-broadcast request is the point that could still change what the public can see from the courtroom.
